Swiss Christmas Cookies

I hope you all had a lovely first if advent, and ate as many cookies as I did. There is a Scandinavian saying that "to be a good wife you must to bake seven sorts of Cookies for Christmas". Although I have not yet baked seven varieties, this “baking season” has started well with at so far five sorts of cookies! Home-made Wiehnachtsguezli (Christmas cookies) are a big thing in Switzerland too and my all time favourite is Brunsli a.k.a. Basler Brunsli. I have come to love these Swiss cookies so much that I wanted to share my recipe below. Enjoy!

Ingredients ca. 50 cookies:

150 g (5 ounces) sugar

1 pinch of salt

250 g (9 ounces) ground almonds

¼ tea spoon cinnamon

1 pinch of powdered clove

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of flour

2 fresh white of egg (about 70 g (2.5 ounces))

100 g (3.5 ounces) bitter chocolate (Fechlin if you can get it)

2 tea spoons of kirsch

Makes ca. 50 cookies

How to:

Cut chocolate in real small pieces, pour hot water over the chocolate, let rest for about 5 minutes, then pour off all water except about half a tablespoon, stir until even. Now immediately proceed with the next step.

Add melted chocolate from the previous step and the kirsch, knead to a soft dough.

Roll out dough on a flat surface (it may be slightly covered with sugar), approximately 10 mm (0.4 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

Let them rest for about 5 to 6 hours or over night in a dry place.

Bake for about 4 to 6 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F).